So I'm watching Alice in Wonderland...

[ThePeterNetwork]

I finally opened and watched my Alice in Wonderland DVD, and the movie opened up with the RKO title. I am fully aware of Disney's relationship with RKO, but I'm not. At least, not where RKO is concerned. Their corporate website is cryptic at least, and the wikipedia entry has too many words. Could somebody sum up RKO's history?

[Sogturtle]

I finally opened and watched my Alice in Wonderland DVD, and the movie opened up with the RKO title. I am fully aware of Disney's relationship with RKO, but I'm not. At least, not where RKO is concerned. Their corporate website is cryptic at least, and the wikipedia entry has too many words. Could somebody sum up RKO's history?

Peter~

I'm not quite sure what you're wanting here... RKO-Radio was set up early in the sound era essentially by RCA and other parties (Keith-Orpheum theaters and FBO) as a new major Hollywood studio. The Depression hit and then worsened and RCA withdrew, bankrupt RKO reorganized. In 1936 Disney signed a distribution contract with RKO. This signing then was the nail in the coffin of the Van Beuren studio (RKO didn't need two cartoon studios).

RKO prospered largely on their feature musicals and on the various Disney releases. Eventually Hughes Tool's reckless heir, Howard Hughes bought control of RKO and proceeded to take hands-on control of it.:rolleyes: The studio faltered and verged on dying. Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball BOUGHT the huge studio lot for their company Desilu (that lot and corporation sold years later to Paramount). Disney founded their own distribution unit (Buena Vista) to take over from the dying RKO. RKO was eventually bought by the General TIRE Company (you read right) and they created RKO-General, which distributed the old features to television while asiduously maintaining copyrights.

In the Eighties RKO-General sold the film library to Ted Turner (no Disney films of course), but the surviving corporation maintained the name and remake rights. Turner then sold to Warners in '96...

[travis t]

This may be a little off the subject, but the movie Hamburger Hill (which was made in the 80s) by RKO even had the old RKO b&w begining. It sounds like they were done by this point in time.
So why was this movie made with the old RKO begining?

[Sogturtle]

This may be a little off the subject, but the movie Hamburger Hill (which was made in the 80s) by RKO even had the old RKO b&w begining. It sounds like they were done by this point in time.
So why was this movie made with the old RKO begining?

Travis~

RKO was indeed done by then (actually by 1959 as memory serves me:)). The film you mention was an attempt to restart the studio (even though no real tangible assets). At least one picture was made in collaboration with Universal. Seems like I saw one of them...

[FleischerFan]

RKO also had some of the Kennedy family money tied up in it at one time, if I remember correctly.

The Astaire-Rogers pictures were the studio's bread & butter but a little picture called "King Kong" also brought in few bucks. The studio released a series of highly regarded and profitable low-budget horror films ("Cat People," "I Walked with a Zombie," "Body Snatcher," etc.) produced by Val Lewton (available on DVD as a complete box set). And of course, this was the studio that released Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane," still regarded as perhaps the greatest movie of all time.

[Barb Herholzer]

The remake of MIGHTY JOE YOUNG with Charlize Theron a few years back was also an "RKO" picture.

[J. A. Boschen]

A little interesting find I found on a 1950's RKO Teleradio short. Looks like Disney/Buena Vista distributed some RKO Radio films:eek:
In a way I think its amazing that Walt Disney out did his own distributor and began distributing his ex-distributors films.

[Vdubdavid]

What short did that title come from?

[J. A. Boschen]

It came from a Pathe "Wildlife Album" called "Artic Round up". It was featured on TCM on Demand over the summer